October 21, 2006 Week 8 · Regular Season Belt defended

Ohio State defends the belt, 44–3, at home over Indiana.

Home · Defending Holder

Ohio StateAP No. 1 44

Away · Challenger

Indiana 3

AP poll, week 8: Indiana unranked at Ohio State No. 1 · No. 1 that week: Wisconsin. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Ohio State came in 42 days into reign #260, which began with a win over Texas, with 5 defenses already behind it; this was its 6th defense. Ohio State went on to defend it 4 more times before Florida took it on January 9, 2007, 122 days after the reign began.

For Indiana this was its 6th shot at the belt; it had never held the belt. It still hasn’t: 8 attempts in all, every one of them a loss or a tie.

It was the 2nd of 4 belt games between the two; going in, Ohio State led the belt series 1–0; all-time Ohio State leads 4–0. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Ohio State's high-powered offense was on full display in Columbus as the Buckeyes thoroughly dominated Indiana to retain the belt with a 44-3 victory. Troy Smith orchestrated a devastating performance, throwing touchdown passes to five different receivers including a pair to Anthony Gonzalez, while also adding a rushing touchdown on a 29-yard run in the first quarter. Indiana's defense was powerless to stop the onslaught, managing only Austin Starr's early field goal in the first quarter before the Hoosiers were held scoreless the rest of the way. The Buckeyes' balanced attack produced 540 total yards while forcing two Indiana turnovers, with the highlight reel including a spectacular 38-yard touchdown pass from Ted Ginn Jr. to Rory Nicol in the third quarter and a methodical closing drive capped by Chris Wells' 12-yard touchdown run in the fourth.

Troy Smith's 23-yard TD pass to Rory Nicol in Q1 (7:50) gave Ohio State an early 7-3 lead after Indiana's field goal
Ted Ginn Jr.'s 31-yard touchdown reception in Q2 (14:52) extended Ohio State's lead and showcased the offensive variety
Four consecutive Ohio State scoring drives in the first half (including TD passes to Gonzalez twice and Ballard) effectively put the game away early
Antonio Pittman's 47-yard rushing gain in Q3 (3:00) set up Pettrey's 51-yard field goal, demonstrating Ohio State's dominance on both sides of the ball

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

Ohio StateIndiana

Total yards540165

Rushing yards2707

Passing yards270204

First downs2516

3rd down conv.8/137/16

Turnovers12

Penalties–yards4–405–30

Time of possession17:5318:47

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 9:07	Ohio State	+34 yd	A.J. Trapasso punt for 42 yards, returned by Tracy Porter for 34 yards to the OSU 15.
Q1 7:59	Indiana	+34 yd	Austin Starr 34 yard field goal GOOD.
Q1 7:50	Indiana	+21 yd	Austin Starr kickoff for 52 yards returned by Roy Hall for 21 yards to the OSU 34.
Q1 2:55	Ohio State	+23 yd	Troy Smith pass complete to Rory Nicol for 23 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 4:28	Ohio State	+22 yd	Troy Smith pass complete to Antonio Pittman for 22 yards to the OSU 35 for a 1ST down.
Q1 2:55	Ohio State	+0 yd	Aaron Pettrey extra point GOOD.
Q1 3:42	Ohio State	+29 yd	Troy Smith rush for 29 yards to the Ind 32 for a 1ST down.
Q2 14:52	Ohio State	+31 yd	Troy Smith pass complete to Ted Ginn Jr. for 31 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 14:52	Ohio State	+0 yd	Aaron Pettrey extra point GOOD.
Q2 6:32	Ohio State	+5 yd	Troy Smith pass complete to Anthony Gonzalez for 5 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 9:38	Ohio State	+24 yd	Troy Smith pass complete to Anthony Gonzalez for 24 yards to the Ind 42 for a 1ST down.
Q2 6:32	Ohio State	+0 yd	Aaron Pettrey extra point GOOD.
Q2 3:05	Indiana	+23 yd	Kellen Lewis pass complete to Jahkeen Gilmore for 23 yards to the Ind 29 for a 1ST down.
Q2 0:39	Ohio State	+20 yd	Troy Smith pass complete to Brian Robiskie for 20 yards to the Ind 29 for a 1ST down, Indiana penalty 15 yard personal foul accepted.
Q2 0:20	Ohio State	+1 yd	Troy Smith pass complete to Jake Ballard for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 0:20	Ohio State	+0 yd	Aaron Pettrey extra point GOOD.
Q3 9:04	Ohio State	+38 yd	Ted Ginn Jr. pass complete to Rory Nicol for 38 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q3 9:13	Ohio State	+21 yd	Troy Smith pass complete to Anthony Gonzalez for 21 yards to the Ind 38 for a 1ST down.
Q3 9:04	Ohio State	+0 yd	Aaron Pettrey extra point GOOD.
Q3 8:40	Ohio State	+24 yd	Ryan Pretorius kickoff for 65 yards returned by Jahkeen Gilmore for 24 yards to the Ind 24.
Q3 3:00	Ohio State	+47 yd	Antonio Pittman rush for 47 yards to the Ind 25 for a 1ST down.
Q3 0:25	Ohio State	+51 yd	Aaron Pettrey 51 yard field goal GOOD.
Q4 11:50	Indiana	+9 yd	Blake Powers pass intercepted by Malcolm Jenkins at the OSU 23, returned for 9 yards to the OSU 32.
Q4 8:56	Ohio State	+21 yd	Chris Wells rush for 21 yards to the Ind 27 for a 1ST down.
Q4 7:04	Ohio State	+12 yd	Chris Wells rush for 12 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 4:29	Indiana	-2 yd	Blake Powers pass intercepted by Andre Amos at the OSU 32, returned for a loss of 2 yards to the OSU 30.
Q4 3:39	Ohio State	+32 yd	Maurice Wells rush for 32 yards to the Ind 35 for a 1ST down.

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Ohio State

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	QBR
Troy Smith	15/23	220	9.6	4	91.8
Ted Ginn Jr.	1/1	38	38.0	1	99.9
Todd Boeckman	1/1	12	12.0	0	100.0

Indiana

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Kellen Lewis	15/28	106	3.8	0	0	21.0
Blake Powers	5/7	52	7.4	0	2	10.7

Rushing

Ohio State

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Antonio Pittman	16	105	6.6	0	44
Chris Wells	10	65	6.5	1	21
Maurice Wells	9	62	6.9	0	32
Troy Smith	4	38	9.5	0	29

Indiana

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Demetrius McCray	12	13	1.1	11
Blake Powers	2	7	3.5	4
Marcus Thigpen	1	0	0.0	0
Bryan Payton	2	-3	-1.5	1
Kellen Lewis	11	-10	-0.9	16

Receiving

Ohio State

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Ted Ginn Jr.	5	72	14.4	1	31
Anthony Gonzalez	4	69	17.3	1	24
Rory Nicol	2	61	30.5	2	38
Brian Robiskie	2	34	17.0	0	21
Antonio Pittman	1	22	22.0	0	22
Roy Hall	1	12	12.0	0	12
Jake Ballard	1	1	1.0	1	1
Albert Dukes	1	-1	-1.0	0	-1

Indiana

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Jahkeen Gilmore	3	54	18.0	23
James Hardy	6	45	7.5	10
James Bailey	2	21	10.5	13
Nick Polk	4	18	4.5	9
Andrew Means	1	17	17.0	17
Ray Fisher	2	8	4.0	5
Josiah Sears	1	-1	-1.0	0
Demetrius McCray	1	-4	-4.0	0

Show more stats (4 more categories)

Interceptions

Ohio State

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Malcolm Jenkins	1	9	0
Andre Amos	1	-2	0

Indiana

No recorded stats in this category.

Kicking

Ohio State

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Aaron Pettrey	1/1	100.0	51	5/6	8

Indiana

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Austin Starr	1/1	100.0	34	0/0	3

Punt Returns

Ohio State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Ted Ginn Jr.	4	42	10.5	19	0

Indiana

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Tracy Porter	3	40	13.3	34	0

Punting

Ohio State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
AJ Trapasso	3	127	42.3	0	0	43

Indiana

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Tyson Beattie	8	341	42.6	0	0	54

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 262940194) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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